Vegetable Soup

History

"Vegetable Soup" in Martha McCulloch-Williams's "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" (1913) is built on meat before it is built on vegetables. Two fat chickens three parts grown are cut into joints, salted and peppered and laid aside while half a pound of streaky bacon fries in a deep pot. The bacon comes out crisp, the chicken goes in and is turned to brown all over, then a thick slice of ham browns a little, then four sliced mild onions — and only then two gallons of cold water, half a teaspoonful of salt, two pods of red pepper, a dozen whole peppercorns and sprigs of herbs.

The historical record does not document a specific earlier origin for this soup. What can be said is what the book itself concedes: its dedication grants that the cooking it records came from Black women it does not name, and it describes elsewhere the plantation kitchens and the specialists whose work it draws on. That is the honest attribution — not an atmosphere of traditions merging, but a book resting on labour it declines to credit by name.

McCulloch-Williams was a white writer born near Clarksville, Tennessee, who grew up on a plantation before the Civil War, and her book's affection for that world goes unexamined in it: its opening holds that being "the best fed people in the world" let "we of the South Country... put up the best fight in history."

Ingredients

• 2 whole fat chickens
• 0.5 pound streaky bacon
• 1 thick slice ham
• 4 whole onions
• 2 gallons cold water
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 2 whole red pepper pods
• 12 whole peppercorns
• 2 sprigs parsley
• 2 small heads tender cabbage
• 6 whole white potatoes
• 1 quart string beans
• 1 pint shelled lima beans
• 1 stalk celery
• 12 whole tomatoes
• 1 pint okra
• 12 ears green corn
• 1 large spoonful butter

Instructions

1. Cut the two chickens into joints, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
2. Fry the streaky bacon in a deep pot until crisp. Remove and drain on a cloth.
3. Place the chicken pieces in the pot and turn to brown all over. Add the slice of ham and brown it lightly. Add the sliced onions and brown them as well.
4. Pour in two gallons of cold water. Add half a teaspoon salt, the red pepper pods, peppercorns, and parsley sprigs. Maintain a gentle boil for one hour.
5. Add the finely shredded cabbage and the potatoes sliced a quarter-inch thick. Boil for fifteen minutes.
6. Add the string beans, lima beans, celery, and tomatoes. Continue cooking for ten minutes.
7. Add the corn pulp, scraped from the ears. Stir almost constantly with a long-handled skimmer after the corn is in, removing any loose chicken bones as they surface.
8. Just before serving, add a large spoonful of butter that has been rolled in flour. Taste and add salt if required.
9. Serve very hot with corn hoe cake and cider just beginning to sparkle.